The Texas Panhandle / Claude

The history of the Texas Panhandle area was all about the old west ranching industry. The largest and probably the most famous of the ranches in that area was the XIT Ranch which covered over 3 million acres. The money raised by the state of Texas in selling this acreage was directly used to build the beautiful Texas state capitol building which is still the state capitol in Austin. Like several western U.S. ranches in the late 1800's, the XIT was essentially owned by British investors eager to take advantage of America's burgeoning ranch industry. In addition to the XIT were other significant ranches such as the JA. The Father of the Texas Panhandle, Charles Goodnight, was the most influential name in Texas Panhandle history.

Armstrong County Museum

If your western road trip vacation happens to take you toward the Amarillo Texas area, a good stop to put on your trip planner is Claude Texas in Armstrong County, about twenty miles east of Amarillo on US Hwy 287. The Texas Panhandle region includes the top 26 counties of the state going from the north-east corner of New Mexico all the way east, south of the entire Oklahoma Panhandle. The Texas Panhandle comprises some 25,610 square miles. Be sure to visit the Armstrong County Museum when in Claude Texas. At he museum you'll see interesting exhibits of late 1800's and early 1900's artifacts, many of which were donated by longtime families of the county.

Adjacent to the Armstrong County Museum is the Gem Theater, another very historic site in Claude. The Gem was built in 1915. This of course were the very first years of the motion picture business. The Gem first opened as the "Claudia" which actually allowed silent film goers to view movies from a sheltered building as opposed to a vacant lot outdoors. The Claudia served as both a silent picture theater and live vaudeville venue.

Claude and the TX Panhandle both have an interesting history tied to both the early ranching and railroad industries. Claude Texas in Armstrong County can trace it's history all the way back to the Coronado Spanish expedition of 1540. Coronado passed through present day Claude and Tule Canyon just to the south. Armstrong County Texas was first formed in the year 1890, two years after the post office was built. The story is that the settlement of Washburn, a few miles to the west of Claude, was in contention to be the county seat. Votes total were tied between it and Claude and reportedly the tie breaking vote was cast by Charles Goodnight who voted in favor of Claude. Goodnight had settled just to the east of Claude in what today is Goodnight Texas, also on Hwy 287. Goodnight was co-owner at the time of the successful JA Ranch.

The town of Claude was originally named Armstrong City. After the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad came through the town's name was changed to Claude which was taken from Claude Ayers, the name of the engineer who brought the first train into town. This type of naming of towns along rail routes was fairly common. Early railroad towns such as Winslow Arizona, Seligman Arizona and Barstow California were named after people connected with the railroad. You'll find this common when touring the western United States.

Claude News printing equipment

Charles Goodnight and the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad put Claude on the map. Claude was the home of America's oldest cowboy, Tom Blasingame, who passed away in 1989 at the age of ninety-one. Claude Texas was also the site of the first Boy Scouts of America troop west of the Mississippi. Claude was also the site used for the filming of the 1963 movie Hud. Films that had been shot in part in Armstrong County Texas also included an Indiana Jones movie and a film called Leap of Faith. In addition to these, even Charles Goodnight himself filmes a movie on his nearby JA Ranch by the name of Old Texas which showcased cowboy life.

You may also want to view our related article about Charles Goodnight, the father of the Texas Panhandle.

The photo above is early printing equipment from the Claude News which began as the Claude Argus and merged with the Goodnight News in 1890.

(Photos from author's private collection)



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Lowell Observatory / Arizona

Flagstaff Arizona is home to one of the premiere observatories found anywhere in the world. One of the first things to recognize about the Lowell Observatory is that it is a non-profit research institution. It's revenue is derived from generous donors. A mesa that sits high above Flagstaff Arizona was chosen as a site in 1894 by Percival Lowell. Lowell was a businessman as well as an astronomer. Lowell graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics.

John S. Hall Telescope

The significance of the Lowell Observatory has been evidenced by some of the remarkable discoveries made there. One in particular was the discovery of Pluto in 1930, fourteen years after Percival Lowell's death. The discovery of Pluto is considered Lowell Observatory's most significant discovery to date. Lowell astronomers were also the very first to discover the rings of Uranus among other discoveries. Anderson Mesa in Flagstaff is also the site of the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer program, a joint venture of the Lowell Observatory, the U.S. Naval Observatory, and the Naval Research Laboratory.

Percival Lowell, the observatory's founder, also had a strong desire to study the planet Mars. He was convinced that there was some type of intelligent life on the planet Mars. For many years he studied the planet and made diagrams of the canals seen on the planet. This was the first detailed account of what the surface of Mars looked like. The canals that Lowell charted were thought by him to be evidence that some sort of intelligent civilization at one time had constructed them, possibly as a result of a diminished water supply.. As is not uncommon in the scientific community, some astronomers were doubtful of Lowell's findings, in particular his assumption that the canals were made by intelligent beings as opposed to natural phenomena. This question was largely answered in 1965 when NASA's Mariner IV probe discovered mostly a barren landscape on the planet. In addition to this, Mariner IV recorded surface temperatures of -100 Celsius nor were any magnetic fields found. Mariner IV data pretty much ruled out any intelligent life on Mars and thus disproved the canal theory.

Clark Telescope, Lowell Observatory

Today, the observatory opens it's doors to students in Flagstaff and throughout Arizona with various educational projects concentrating on all students K through 12th grade including all the Native student population of the state. The Lowell Observatory offers an excellent museum/ visitor center and schedules various events throughout the year. There are four research telescopes at the Anderson Mesa Flagstaff site about twelve miles southeast of Flagstaff. At the Mars Hill site on the west side of Flagstaff is the Pluto Discovery Telescope as well as the original Clark Telescope and several others. The Clark Telescope was built in 1896 for a cost of $20,000. During our visit, we enjoyed a guided walking tour to the 42 inch John S. Hall Telescope. Hall was a former Lowell Observatory director. The telescope was acquired in 1971 and was upgraded in 1994. It was named after Hall in 1991. Also during our visit, the observatory opened the 24 inch Clark Telescope for a fun view of the Moon. The operators of the Clark Telescope were very helpful in answering questions of what exactly on the Moon's surface we were viewing. It's a great treat for the entire family.

Lowell Observatory Visitor Center, Flagstaff Arizona

The big news at Lowell Observatory as of this writing was the construction of the 4.28 meter Discovery Channel Telescope at the observatory's site near Happy Jack Arizona. This is about forty miles southeast of Flagstaff. The project was a partnership between the Discovery Channel and the Lowell Observatory costing some $53 million. The telescope construction was completed in February 2012. At this time it's not anticipated to be open to the public. The Discovery Channel Telescope will be the fifth largest in the United States and will be the premiere research telescope for Lowell Observatory.  Plans are for the Discovery Channel to use the new large telescope for educational programs pertaining to astronomy and science. There will also be updates on the telescope's activity online.

Another good addition to your Arizona trip planner is a stop at the historic La Posada Hotel in Winslow Arizona, about 57 miles east of Flagstaff.

Hours, admission fees, and special events held at Lowell Observatory can be found on their website. You can learn more about our Universe though widescreen multimedia shows, plus exhibits, guided tours and presentations. Adding a visit to the Lowell Observatory during your Arizona road trip vacation is a fun and educational adventure.

(Photos from author's private collection)